Canada’s Speaker Has Stake in Seahawks Super Bowl Victory

Canada’s Speaker of the House will be making his voice heard in a different house this weekend.

Among the 82,000 people expected to fill the seats at this weekend’s Super Bowl will be Andrew Scheer, one of the most influential characters in Canadian politics. He’s a football fan, but he’s also got a personal interest in the game — and in particular a Seattle Seahawks victory. His brother-in-law is the punter for Seattle.

Mr. Scheer, Speaker of the House of Commons in Canada, is technically a member of the governing Conservative Party but was elected by his peers to carry out the job of enforcing the parliamentary rules and traditions that govern Canada’s legislature.

Outside of politics, the Regina, Saskatchewan native counts football as one of his passions. And football has been very good to him in recent months.

His beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders, of the Canadian Football League, won this country’s version of the Super Bowl — the Grey Cup – in November. Now, he’s headed to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium this weekend for his first Super Bowl to cheer on the Seahawks, and more specifically punter Jon Ryan, his brother-in-law.